Terracastus Uses American Technology – Builds World’s Largest Biogas Liquefaction Facility

Embassy Stockholm recently met with Terracastus in Helsingborg. They have formed a joint venture with Nordvästra Skånes Renhållnings AB (NSR) to build the largest biogas liquefaction facility in the world. The technology used has been leased by Terracastus owner Volvo Technology Transfers from Ohio company Acrion. Terracastus CEO Tomas Johansson informed us that Mack Trucks has used the liquid biogas in their trucks and found that the biogas is much gentler on their engines than traditional diesel.

By partnering with NSR, Terracastus will add extensive knowledge in landfill use and gain access to a major landfill in Helsingborg. The Acrion liquefaction process reduces the temperature of the biogas to approximately
-52 degrees Celsius (-67 Fahrenheit) upon which the carbon dioxide is converted into a liquid. The carbon dioxide is then used to “wash” the biogas upgrading it to 100 percent methane. As a last step the methane is turned into liquid by further reducing the temperature.

Terracastus has already tested the process in a pilot plant in the United States funded by the U.S. Energy Department. The new facility in Helsingborg is projected to be completed in fall 2011. Unlike the United States, there is no national biogas grid in Sweden which will make liquid biogas an attractive option. It will be easier to transport as compressed biogas requires about three times as much space. There is already a strong demand for biogas in Sweden, the new plant will produce approximately 15 million cubic meters of biogas a year – the Helsingborg city busses alone consume 4 million cubic meters annually.

Photo: usgs.gov

SWECORP and Onondaga Nation Team Up

Plantagon is owned by Swedish consulting company SWECORP Citizenship AB together with the Native Americans in Onondaga Nation.

The Onondaga Nation is represented by Chief Oren Lyons who is the Chairman of Plantagon and one of the North American Indians’ most influential leaders. Lyons is an international advisor in the areas of environmental conservation and human rights.

The first product that Plantagon has on the market is the Plantagon Greenhouse. It is quite a simple innovation that could change the way the world produces ecological and functional food. It is made to fit into major cities with it’s spherical form. The greenhouses could cut costs and environmental damage by eliminating transportation and deliver directly to consumers.

AT&T Moves to Reduce Consumer Paper Use, Electricity

In two separate initiatives, AT&T is making plans to reduce the overall paper associated with its billing system, as well as to help consumers save electricity with charging devices. AT&T is appealing to its customers to help convert a million accounts to paperless billing.

A promotion with the Arbor Day Foundation would have AT&T plant a tree for each customer who converts to paperless billing. If a million customers switch to paperless billing, as the PayItGreen initiative seeks, 400,000 pounds of paper would be saved and up to 6 million pounds of greenhouse gases would be averted. AT&T also says that it could prevent 4 million gallons of wastewater from being discharged into waterways per year.

Citing EPA statistics, AT&T says that planting 1 million trees would absorb more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide. With regards to its cellular device business, AT&T has a new wireless charger that has a so-called “automatic zero draw,” meaning that if a device is not plugged into a charger, it would not draw power from the outlet. Device chargers have gained notoriety for their ability to suck “phantom power” from the grid, i.e., they continue to consume electricity whether they are charging a device or not.

AT&T will officially launch its ZERO charger in May. The charger has a 5-star efficiency rating, which exceeds the standards set by GSMA. Earlier in March, AT&T began a packaging initiative that it expects to save 200 tons in packaging waste by requiring its cell phone equipment suppliers to reduce packaging. The strategy involves having slimmer packaging that use less materials. It applies to device chargers, cases, batteries and data cables.

Last year, AT&T hired an energy director to help it reduce its carbon footprint. It also created a sustainability advisory council comprised of AT&T staff, as well as third parties including the Carbon Disclosure Project, Cisco Systems, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the University of Colorado Denver, and University of Texas at Austin. Read full article here

Chalmers Hosts Smart Grid Conference

The first Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT) Europe, sponsored by the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and hosted by Chalmers University of Technology will take place on October 11-13, 2010 at Chalmers Lindholmen, Gothenburg, Sweden. The Conference will be a forum for the participants to discuss the state-of-the-art innovations in smart grid technologies. The Conference will feature paper sessions, panels and tutorials by international experts on smart grid.

The “Big Green Machine” (U.S. Army) is Living up to its Nickname

Automotive lithium-ion battery maker EnerDel announced that it will be working with the United States Army to develop a next-generation battery system for the hybrid version of the iconic High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee), known as the XM1124 Humvee. The company, a subsidiary of Ener1, Inc. has received a $1.29 million contract to design and build high-performance lithium-ion battery systems for two different applications, drawing on its expertise in multiple-chemistry solutions and ability to provide a complete architecture in cell chemistry, electronics and battery systems design.

EnerDel will spend the next 18 months collaborating with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) to produce four custom-built power systems that will be subjected to extreme performance simulations.